Stumble
by WindWisp
Summary: Yaoi. Cloud comes back to Radiant Garden, only to find Merlin's house far more populated than when he left. Cloud has met Riku once before, but is now beginning to become attracted to the boy. What ensues is awkwardness, Cloud's classic obliviousness, and lots of fluff. Clouku CloudxRiku
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, all! First things first: Just give this pairing a try. It won't bite you. I swear. **

** I have decided that there are definitely not enough Clouku fics on this site. As such, I have taken it upon myself to fix said deficit with a story of my own. I absolutely adore this pairing, and hope that maybe I can convert some others, as well! If you find that perhaps you might like to read some other CloudxRiku stories, I highly recommend those by Page of Cups; Jediempress has some awesome ones, as well.**

** Prepare yourself: Some cursing, slight sexual references, and lotsa fluff. This will be in three parts, by the way.**

Stumble: to discover or meet unexpectedly, with surprise.

Cloud wasn't terribly fond of people. In fact, one could say that he rather didn't like them. And several people said just that. But it stands to reason that everyone must like _somebody_, and therefore his friends weren't too terribly concerned. Cloud pretended not to care about them of course, in order maintain his reputation, but those closest to him could see through the façade, as he tended to seek out their company.

So it stands to reason that when Cloud returned to Merlin's house after killing Sephiroth yet again, he was unnerved by the cacophony that greeted him. It took only a few seconds to recognize brunette spikes among the throng, swerving this way and that as the attached human tried to speak to five people at once. Cloud remembered Sora from the Coliseum; he was the keyblade wielder that Hades had wanted dead. Though merely a boy, he had a strong heart and had earned Cloud's grudging respect.

The duck beside him was another matter entirely. Cloud had seen him fighting alongside Sora in the tournament, but had yet to meet him face-to-face. His grating voice and apparent temper, however, were enough to make Cloud disinclined to remedy that situation.

Then there was the odd human-dog hybrid that kept 'a-hyuck'ing between sentences.

Cloud amused himself for a moment by imagining that Goofy (that was his name, right?) was a failed experiment of Hojo's. Cloud decided to avoid him, as well.

Standing quietly next to Sora was a redheaded girl of about the same age. She was rather pretty, in an innocent sort of way, and judging by the glances she was exchanging with Sora, Cloud assumed that the keyblade wielder had finally found his light. Not that Cloud was jealous or anything.

After a few moments of leaning against the doorframe, content to remain an unnoticed observer, a tentative voice called out from behind him.

"Um… hello?"

Cloud turned, only to see a rather tall boy with silver hair and bright aqua eyes staring back at him. Cloud's first thought was that the boy resembled Sephiroth. His second thought, though far less articulate, was something along the lines of "Damn, he's hot."

Wait… what?

Cloud had known, of course, about his preference for men, and had come out to his friends several years ago. Leon had been a bit unsettled until Cloud assured him of his platonic status, and Yuffie had let out the most girlish, earsplitting scream, followed by a glomp of epic proportion. Cloud suffered through it for about two seconds before he managed to slither out of her grasp, his ear buds taking a bit longer to recuperate. Cid had merely stared at him, shrugged, and lit another cigarette. Aerith had given him one of her all-knowing smiles, looking at him with eyes that apparently found something humorous.

No, Cloud wasn't fazed by his attraction to a male, but rather the fact that said male was a _boy_. As in underage. Underage, untouchable, and dangerously sexy.

_Dammit. He's probably a friend of Sora's._

_So what? He's gorgeous!_

_And underage._

_Well sure, but…_

_You know, there's a reason guys like him are called jailbait._

_If it's consensual, no one would have to know._

_You're just a horny bastard._

_Well, we _are _the same person, so…_

… _That's low._

Thus went the warring thoughts in Cloud's head. If he had been paying attention, he might have noticed the boy's expression turn from curious, to amused, to slightly concerned.

"Are you going to say hello, or let me inside or anything?" he asked. "It's not exactly warm out here."

It was then that Cloud awoke from his inner argument to notice a few inches of snow on the ground. When did _that_ happen?

The snow was still falling, drifting into the boy's beautiful hair, and Cloud longed to reach out and gently brush it off.

_Warning! Dangerous thoughts!_

Apparently Cloud had zoned out again, because the boy's face was now showing serious concern.

"Are you okay?"

Cloud finally snapped completely out of his reverie and stepped aside without a word, allowing the gorgeous boy _(Stop it!)_ to enter the room. By this point, the majority of his friends had noticed him, and seeing that he was in danger of another Yuffie glomp, he quickly dodged, causing Yuffie to fall headfirst into the growing draft of snow. It was still coming down in sheets, and Yuffie had landed in a draft of about seven inches, which meant that Cloud didn't feel the least bit guilty. He actually found the pout on Yuffie's snow-covered face quite humorous, but didn't dare smile. Reputation and all that.

He turned back around to see Aerith smiling at him, Leon staring at him, and, as per usual, Cid ignoring him completely. Merlin was humming away, sitting at a small table and drinking a steaming cup of tea.

In the middle of the room, causing most of the ruckus, was Sora, clinging to What's-his-name gorgeous boy _(Are you _trying_ to torture yourself?)_ Said boy then reached into his pocket and handed the girl (_Kari? Kylie?_ Cloud could have sworn he'd heard her name somewhere before,) a small star-shaped charm, earning him a smile and an enthusiastic hug. When he replied with a small smile of his own, even Cloud's heart was distracted. It resumed its beating a moment later, but Cloud's eyes remained glued to that gentle face.

Sora tried to shout despite the ice cream in his mouth, only managing a sloppy "Rigu! Or o oham! I ot i uz osd or zur!"

At the confused looks he received, Sora swallowed his ice cream, took a moment to overcome the brain freeze, and then clarified: "Riku! You're so awesome! I thought it was lost for sure!"

This was followed by a glomp.

Cloud could tell that the boy (Riku, Cloud assumed) hadn't expected this reaction, because he ended up on the floor with Sora straddling him.

Cloud, who wasn't jealous at all, just barely refrained from chuckling at the way Riku rolled Sora over, pinning him down instead. In one smooth motion, he pushed himself up, offering his hand to Sora with a sexy smirk. _(Okay, Cloud. Control yourself.)_

Sora, his pride bruised, turned away from Riku with a pout. It was then that he noticed Cloud.

Sora made a squeal that rivaled Yuffie's and took a running start, but dug his feet into the ground when he saw the death-stare Cloud was giving him. Momentum, however, refused to be overcome, and Sora rolled ungracefully to a stop against Cloud's legs, looking for all purposes as if he'd just performed a solo trinity. Today just wasn't Sora's day, apparently.

Cloud didn't even notice Sora recover, because he was too busy watching Riku snicker behind his hand, eyes shining.

Sora had wisely decided not to hug Cloud, but instead dragged him by his sleeve over to his entourage to make introductions. Thus were Cloud's plans foiled as he was brought before Donald and Goofy.

_Heh. What fitting names._

Kairi chose to introduce herself, cutting Sora off midsentence and completely ignoring the trampled puppy-dog look he was giving her. Cloud liked her already.

Sora then introduced Riku, who had been standing a bit behind everyone, and although Cloud had done his best to pay attention to the other introductions, he couldn't help but notice the stares Riku was giving him. After Sora made the reverse introductions, repeating Cloud's name for each of his four acquaintances, the man was greeted with a smattering of 'hi's, 'hello's, and 'nice to meetcha's. He simply exchanged nods with Riku, whose brows immediately furrowed, an intense look on his face.

Cloud was feeling a little self-conscious under the scrutiny, and was relieved when the boy offered up context.

"You look kind of familiar. Have we met before?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"No, I mean, before today."

"No."

"Really? I could have sworn…"

At this point, Riku ran a hand through his hair, cocking his head to one side before folding his arms.

Cloud's brain clicked.

"Wait… you worked for Maleficent."

Riku had seemed much younger then, a reckless, desperate, yet determined boy who had been caught up in the darkness. Damn. How did that kid grow up so fast?

Riku's face dropped, and he looked at the ground with a mix of surprise and shame. "Oh, yeah. You were with Hades, right? I saw you a few times."

Cloud nodded, wondering why the boy looked so put out.

Cue uncomfortable silence.

"PIE!"

All five jumped at the exclamation from Sora.

Aerith had indeed just come out of the kitchen carrying a freshly baked apple pie. Cloud figured the boy had some sort of sixth sense when it came to food. It was creepy.

He looked over at Riku, hoping to determine from his expression whether or not this was normal behavior. Instead, he caught the boy staring at him. As soon as they made eye contact, Riku snapped his head back to Kairi, who was telling him something or other about paopu trees. As Cloud turned to get a drink, he noticed a faint blush tinge the boy's cheek.

_I guess he's shy_.

Sora ran over to the pie, careful this time not to crash into Aerith and her precious cargo, and practically drooled over her shoulder as she cut the pastry into pieces. He of course took the first plate and tore through the room to his seat, obstacles be damned. Unfortunately, one of those obstacles just so happened to be Cloud. Who happened to be drinking from a glass of water. Which, no surprise, spilled all over him thanks to Sora's wild dash. At this point, Cloud decided to forgo the pie, instead opting to plop himself down on the comfy armchair by the fireplace.

The water dripping down his front was rather cold, and he hoped that the fire would help it dry faster. After vainly attempting to wipe his face dry with a soaked sleeve, he felt a light touch on his shoulder. Slightly annoyed, he turned in his chair, thrilled to see what anyone could possibly want with him now. To his surprise, he came face to face with Riku, who was standing a few steps away, eyes to the ground. He was nervously rubbing his neck with one hand, and offering Cloud a small stack of napkins with the other. That cute blush was coloring his face again, but Cloud convinced himself that it was just the firelight. Which looked pretty damn good along Riku's profile, if he might add.

"Umm… yeah. I thought you might, you know, need these."

Cloud took the napkins, trying his best to hide how grateful he was. Stupid reputation.

Riku stood there awkwardly for a few more moments while Cloud dried his face, finally sitting hesitantly on the floor next to the armchair, gazing into the fire.

A minute or two later, by which time Cloud had become an unwilling witness to the demolition of Sora's third piece of pie, Riku broke Cloud's concentration.

"I'm sorry."

Cloud, who could barely hear the boy, responded simply with a questioning expression.

Riku never moved his eyes from the fire, repeating only slightly louder, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Earlier. When we were talking about, well, the past. I've been worrying that maybe what I said gave you the wrong idea."

Cloud repeated his earlier expression.

Riku looked up at the silence, and at the sight of Cloud's face, explained with a stutter.

"Well, I got all quiet and depressed when you mentioned that we had met while I was working for Maleficent. I thought maybe it might have come off as though I regretted meeting you. And that isn't it at all. I'm actually really glad I met you, you know? 'Cause you're just…umm…

"Never mind. Anyway, it had nothing to do with you. I just don't like talking about those times. They weren't exactly happy. I did a lot of stuff I'm not proud of, and if I could go back and do it all differently, I would. I guess I'm just having a hard time coming to terms with the consequences of all of my actions. I was doing terrible things, and was telling myself that they were all worth it. And when you said that about Maleficent, well, the memories all came back suddenly, and all of my faults crashed in on me at once. It really isn't your fault, though, because you had no idea how screwed up I am. I would have figured it out anyway, and since I keep things to myself, I probably would have just been brooding about it all night, isolating myself from everyone. I guess I just mean that it's nice to know that there's someone who at least understands a bit. Not that I'm saying you were overtaken by the darkness or anything, because that was just me.

"…I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry."

"You shouldn't apologize so much."

Now it was Riku's turn to look confused.

"Umm… why not?"

"Everything we do feels justified in the moment. Unless you do something terrible to a person that you truly regret with all of your heart, you shouldn't apologize for doing what you thought was right."

"What about the rambling?"

"That's normal."

Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Even for you?"

At this, Cloud couldn't resist a tiny smile.

"There's an exception to every rule."

After a few more minutes of companionable silence, Cloud's eyes began to wander around the room. Leon was leaning against the wall, a worn-out Yuffie sitting next to him. Donald and Goofy were in the kitchen contemplating a map, their murmurs drowned out by the crackling of the fire. Cid and Merlin were off somewhere doing gods know what, and Cloud was perfectly content for it to stay that way.

It turned out that Kairi was the one truly responsible for the silence, as she was holding Sora's hand, leaning on his shoulder, and overall acting sleepy so that Sora spoke only in a whisper.

Aerith was reading in a rocking chair in the corner, though how she could see the pages in the low light was beyond Cloud's realm of comprehension. Feeling his eyes on her, Aerith looked up at Cloud, down at the boy at his feet, and then back up to Cloud, another of her light smiles beginning to grow.

She knew.

She always knew.

Cloud had known her long enough to know that those smiles always held some sort of secret knowledge behind them. And it was nearly always things that he wanted to keep hidden.

Damn that girl and her otherworldly perception.

Aerith went back to her book, but that unnerving smile never left her face.

After a while, one by one, everyone started filtering off to bed. There were three rooms in the house, so the girls got their own, Sora and Riku got another, Cloud and Leon shared the room on the ground floor, and Donald and Goofy had opted to sleep on the gummi ship. Cid alternated between the couch and a pallet he'd set up in the computer room, and Merlin slept, well… somewhere.

Sora and Kairi were the first to retire, both yawning a 'good night' as they climbed the stairs. Leon woke Yuffie up with a light kick, at which point she dragged herself up the stairs as well. A while later, when the fire began to die down, Donald and Goofy rolled up the map and went to bed, as well.

Riku had fallen asleep against Cloud's chair, and no one had the heart to wake him. Instead, they listened to the footsteps dissipate until they no longer disturbed the ceiling, at which point Leon pushed himself from the wall and headed off down the hallway.

Cloud was so entranced by the way the soft light from the embers flickered on Riku's sleeping face, that he failed to realize that Aerith was still in her corner, reading,

He couldn't remain ignorant for much longer, though, because she got up and stood behind his chair, folding her arms along the top.

"You like him."

It wasn't a question, as they both knew she was right, but Cloud would never admit it, so he turned around to challenge her and her all-knowing smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Deny it all you want, but you know it's true."

Silence.

"You know," Aerith continued, "he likes you, too."

At this, Cloud stiffened, risking a glance at the prone form beside him.

He replied, a bit softer this time, "How would you know?"

"Call it intuition."

At a loss for words, Cloud grasped at whatever he could.

"He's sixteen, Aerith. That's what people call robbing the cradle."

"You know as well as I do that there are no age restrictions in this world. You're stuck back in the old laws. Times have changed, and possibilities like this don't come along very often. Age is merely a number, right?"

"Aerith, he's straight."

"So you admit that you like him."

Aerith smiled at the silence that followed that comment. He had stopped denying it.

"Anyway, you can't possibly know his sexual preference when you've only known him for such a short time."

"Look, the only other gay man I've ever met was that Marluxia creep, and we all know how that turned out."

"Just because you had one bad run-in with a crazy obsessive stalker doesn't mean that there aren't more homosexual men out there who are interested in true relationships. Or, in this case, teenagers who are."

"I'm telling you, Aerith. He doesn't like me. What boy in his right mind would like someone seven years older then him?"

"What man in his right mind would like someone seven years younger than him?"

Cloud glared.

"You don't know him as well as you know me. You intuition is probably wrong about this whole thing, which means that this conversation is pointless."

"I know that you're just trying to quash your own hope, but there isn't a whole lot of time for that. After all, he and Sora are only planning on staying here for a week or two. Then it's back off to Destiny Islands, and from what I've heard, Riku isn't too thrilled about that. I'm sure he'd much rather stay here, despite the mess he went through when it was Hollow Bastion. If he leaves, who knows when he'll be able to convince someone to take him back to this world? I doubt he'd have a problem staying here, so it's not like it'd be a long-distance relationship."

Cloud gave a weary sigh.

"That's not the problem, and you know it. I'm exhausted and I can't think straight anymore. Can't we just leave it at that and call it a night?"

Aerith sighed and left for her room, but not before putting a hand on Cloud's shoulder and murmuring a soft "Think about it."

Cloud took one last glance at the boy beside him before stealing a few blankets from the couch, and gently laying him down with one folded as a pillow, and draping the others across his body. Not wanting to leave the boy to wake up alone in the living room, Cloud settled himself back onto the armchair and contented himself with watching Riku sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Stumble: to discover or me

Cloud didn't sleep much that night. There fantasies traipsing though his head – Riku straddling his lap, staring up at him with those entrancing eyes; the way Riku's lips would feel pressed against his own; the feeling of Riku's soft hands trailing down his spine, fingertips making a trail across his abdomen, then slowly, teasingly, sneaking lower and lower… But then that stupid voice would turn back on in his head, fighting his every desire with the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind since the very beginning.

_He doesn't like you. No one could ever like a brooding, ugly, older man with weird alien-glowing eyes, who carries a sword that probably gives off the impression that he's compensating for something, and never says more than a few words to anyone except Aerith._

But getting back to the point, there was no chance in hell that Riku could actually have feelings for him. Cloud was better off trying to deny his feelings until the boy and his friends left, and then maybe he could let himself give in to his fantasies, just for a little while. His attraction to Riku was probably nothing more than lust anyway, right? It had nothing to do with the fact that the boy would go out in a blizzard to find something his friend had dropped in the snow. Or with the fact that from what Cloud had heard tonight, he had fought back someone who had possessed him in order to save his friends. And it certainly wasn't because he had selflessly locked himself in the heart of darkness, spending a year anonymously fighting along with King Mickey.

No, it was simply that shining silver hair that would feel so silky against his skin, those eyes that seemed to smile even when the boy was staring off into space. Those eyes that Riku had willingly covered for a year in order to keep back the darkness. Because even in the blackest of times, Riku could always see the light, and always maintain the hope in his heart that there was something worth fighting for.

Wait, stop it. Lust. Sex. Warm skin and sweet, sweet moans coming from between those soft lips. That was all he wanted from Riku.

Cloud wondered if Riku was a good kisser. And if his hands were smooth, or calloused, like his own. And then a new thought popped into his head. Could Riku still be a virgin? After all, he had been a mere child when he had left his home world, and Cloud had heard nothing of him having any relationships during his exploits. Who would have time for that, hopping from world to world and fighting Organization XIII, anyway? And if Riku was a virgin, that meant that Cloud would be his first. Which meant that he would give Riku his first orgasm. Which meant that Riku would moan with such ecstasy…

Okay, so lust was creating its own problems.

Why not try counting moogles?

One, two, three…

When he reached 347, Cloud gave up on sleep, instead sliding out of bed and padding his way to the kitchen for some tea. That would calm him down.

Just as it was beginning to work, however, who should appear in the doorway but Riku himself? And judging from the way he was shuffling and rubbing his eyes, he hadn't had any problem sleeping.

Cloud considered pouring his tea in the sink and returning to his real bed, but restrained himself from what was certainly a rude gesture.

As soon as Riku spotted Cloud, his eyes widened, and Cloud saw that adorable blush cover his cheeks again. He was just warm from sleeping in those blankets, Cloud reasoned. So it wasn't really a blush.

So, with no chance of escape, Cloud grudgingly tore his eyes from those gorgeous lips and turned to put some more hot water on the stove.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," said Riku, scaring Cloud out of skin despite the quiet voice.

Cloud turned back around.

"You wanted something else?"

"Oh… no, I came in here for tea, I just meant that you didn't have to bother with it. I can make it myself."

Cloud simply shrugged, tossing the box of tea bags onto the table.

Turning back to the water, Cloud heard Riku sit down at the table and slowly rifle through the teas. Thus distracted, Riku didn't notice Cloud speed up the water's progress with a small fire spell.

The water thus heated, Cloud grabbed the first mug he touched from the cupboard and filled it almost to the brim.

Turning back to Riku, he realized that he had just been asked a question.

"What was that?"

"Oh… I just asked…" Riku was definitely blushing now. "Since, you know, you're here, and… I'm kind of pathetic, and… well… Okay, so I had to ask someone, and Sora would just bombard me with his own questions, I'm still not too fond of his animal companions, Leon isn't exactly approachable, and Cid is just frightening, Merlin… well, I don't think he'd be of much help, and I definitely can't ask one of the girls – they'd just get curious and try to make me explain things."

"Okay…"

"Well… I know it's a weird and kind of personal question, but… Well, I just wanted to know how it feels to really like someone. I mean, there's someone who I think I like, but I've never really felt this way before, so… I mean, Sora and Kairi like each other, but they've also known each other since we were seven. I don't know. I just feel like… like I'm doing something wrong. Like maybe I shouldn't be feeling this way about them."

Riku, who had been fiddling with his tea bag during his whole speech, finally rested his eyes on Cloud's.

Drawn in by the aqua glow in the dim light, Cloud pulled out a chair, swung it around, and sat on it backwards. _To keep you from reaching out and holding Riku's hand_, a little voice said in his head, and was quickly berated by the negative one he'd been hearing so often.

Shit, how many voices _did_ his head possess?

Silencing them both, he responded, "Well, I guess I haven't really felt it that often. There was one time that it was just an infatuation, and when I found out that they didn't reciprocate those feelings, I realized that I hadn't actually liked them, I just looked up to them. Then there was another time when someone else was infatuated with me, so I tried to convince myself that I liked them back. That never works, by the way. Plus they turned out to be really creepy."

Riku cocked his head at this, and opened his mouth as if to ask a question, but Cloud cut him off.

"Don't ask. Seriously." Cloud did not want to even think about Marluxia. The color pink still made him ill. It was a wonder that he hadn't thrown up after spending so much time around Kairi in her admittedly cute, but far too pink, dress.

"Anyway, so I guess you could say that there's only one person that I've ever truly liked. And, well, it's sort of scary. Because I'm almost positive that they don't return my feelings, but I just can't stop thinking about them. No matter what I'm doing, they're always on my mind, and even though I wish that I could control my thoughts, I also never want to stop thinking about them. I always want to feel their presence, even when I can't be around them physically. And every time I see this person, I feel as though I'm drowning in their eyes, and I would do anything for just one glance, one smile directed at me.

"And even though liking someone gives you this compressing, crippling ache of longing in your chest, it's all worth it. Because you always have that hope that maybe, one day, they'll turn around and say 'Of course. Of course it was you all along.' And that hope is, I guess, the true essence of attraction. I think it is for me, anyway. Then again, I try not to think about it too much."

When Cloud had finished, he just stared at the chocobo adorning the half-empty yellow mug in his hands. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but he guessed that the tea was no longer hot enough to be worth drinking.

After contemplating this for a while, and taking a moment to wonder why a chocobo mug would be yellow (shouldn't it be a contrasting color? Without the outline, it would just be eyes, feet, and a beak. And that would just be creepy.), he realized that Riku hadn't said anything in a long time.

When he looked across the table, he found Riku staring at him. This time, the boy didn't look away, instead studying Cloud's face.

Cloud was more than a little unnerved.

"What? Did my hair go flat, or something?" he joked, trying to relieve some of the pressure.

Finally, Riku spoke, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

"I know I haven't known you for a while, but I think that's most I've ever heard you speak."

Now it was Cloud's turn to blush. He averted his eyes awkwardly, and cleared his throat, determined to regain control of his vocal chords, as well as the mind connected to them.

When Riku spoke again, Cloud was snapped out of his thoughts about a chocobo with no beak, and imagining how weird _that_ would look on a mug, and instead returned his gaze to Riku.

"You used the present tense."

"Huh?"

"When you were speaking just now. About the last person you'd liked. You were speaking in the present tense."

Cloud replied with a blank stare.

"That means you still like them."

Cloud's blush deepened.

"I know this is probably really inappropriate, seeing as I don't know you that well and all, but from what I've heard about you from all of your friends, and Sora, of course, I think you should go for it."

Was Cloud imagining that disheartened tone to Riku's voice?

Yep. Definitely,

"What I mean is, you seem pretty awesome, and it's not like you're unattractive or anything. Far from it, actually." Riku cleared his throat. "I mean, the girl you like is really lucky, and she'd have to be insane to turn you down."

The spark that had flared in his chest at Riku's words was immediately extinguished. 'She.'

He had said 'she.'

So Riku really wasn't gay. Any hope that Aerith had given him was stomped on mercilessly. Cloud made a mental note to never listen to Aerith again.

_Well, I might as well set the boy straight._

"Actually, I'm gay."

Riku stared.

After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, Cloud decided it was best if he left now. He poured his now un-drinkable tea down the sink drain, and was about to leave when Riku's voice stopped him in the doorway.

"What if… what if the person you liked didn't know you were gay?"

Cloud turned around reluctantly, but figured there was no use trying to escape. Riku didn't seem the type to just let a question go, so he sighed and leaned against the doorway before answering.

"Well, it would suck. But quite frankly, it would suck even more if they did know, because if they were straight, they'd likely just avoid me because they were freaked out by it."

Another pause.

"What if they were gay, too? But you didn't know it."

"I guess then it would be worth it to tell them I'm gay, because, you know, if I were to tell them that I liked them, then there's always the chance that they might like me back. Which I guess goes against my previous statement, because if I didn't know they were gay, I'd still avoid telling them."

Shiva, why couldn't he think straight around this boy? Riku probably thought he was an idiot by now.

"So, if you're gay, and you know that they're gay, what would you do?"

Cloud thought for a moment.

"I guess that if I knew he was gay, I would just go for it. What's there to lose, right?"

"Oh."

Riku got up from the table and slowly poured the tea from his mug. He placed it on the counter, and Cloud tried to avoid eye contact, as that awkward silence had settled in again, moving aside so that Riku could leave ahead of him. The whole footsteps thing, and all. Definitely not because he wanted to watch Riku as he walked away.

So of course, when he was interrupted from these conflicted feelings by a hand lightly touching his cheek, it took him a while to register the contact. His brain was still catching up as his head was gently turned by said hand. But as soon as Riku's lips touched his, it was as if all of his synapses had fired off at once.

_Riku's kissing me._

So startled was he by that thought, that he didn't even think to return the kiss.

Riku pulled back slightly and muttered a broken "I'm sorry," before Cloud reclaimed his lips fiercely. He pulled the boy closer, pressing against him. His hands ran through Riku's hair, across his back, on his cheek, as if to reassure himself that this wasn't yet another dream.

When he felt arms tentatively wrap around his neck, a hand grasping his hair, Cloud could no longer hold back. He slid his tongue past Riku's lips, trying to be as gentle as he could given the circumstances, and heard Riku gasp. The boy willingly let Cloud dominate the kiss, and damn if this wasn't ten times better than any of his fantasies. Cloud's brain had completely shut down, and all that existed was Riku. Turning the boy around, Cloud pressed him up against the door, never once breaking the kiss. He was vividly aware of Riku's body against his, heat building rapidly at every point where they were melded together, and yet still he strove for more contact.

That was when Riku began experimenting with his tongue.

Cloud moaned into the kiss. He had thought this couldn't get any better, but Riku kept proving him wrong.

Riku was obviously inexperienced, and Cloud wondered if maybe this was his first kiss, the thought immediately shoved aside by the sensation of delicate fingers gliding lightly down his spine, barely touching his skin. To say it felt wonderful would have been a severe understatement. After a few moments (minutes? hours?) of this ecstasy, Cloud realized that Riku might be a bit overwhelmed and was probably in need of air, so he reluctantly pulled back, keeping a tight hold on Riku's waist. Riku looked up at him, barely two inches away and breathing heavily. His next statement was quite possibly the most obvious thing that Cloud had ever heard.

"I like you."

Still, Cloud couldn't help the shivers that ran down his spine, or the way that his heart was still trying to jumpstart itself back into its regular beating.

Riku was still talking.

"If you don't like me back, I understand. I know I kind of forced myself on you, but I overheard you and Aerith a few hours ago, and the things you were saying just now…"

Cloud then did something that it seemed could only be caused by Riku. He smiled. Just slightly, but it was there. Deciding Riku had done enough rambling for one night, Cloud stilled his mouth with a soft kiss, tender and sweet.

For Riku's benefit, he added, "Generally, when someone kisses you back like that, it means they reciprocate your feelings."

There was that cute blush again. "Will you kiss me like that again?"

Cloud's smile widened, and he leaned down once again, lips meeting Riku's in a kiss even more passionate than the one before.

No, Cloud wasn't going to be getting much sleep at all tonight. And he found that he didn't give a damn.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Aerith awoke to find a pile of blankets on the couch that she swore hadn't been there when she went to bed last night. After inspecting the far end of the couch, however, she saw Riku's sleeping face, framed by chocobo-yellow spikes. Of course she had been right.

Aerith smiled one of her knowing smiles, and quickly grew excited. She was still a girl, after all, despite her calm demeanor. Soon she found that she could no longer contain her excitement, so she went back upstairs and came down only moments later dragging a pajama-clad, bed head-sporting Kairi with her. Despite her appearance, the redhead was wide awake, and seemed to be channeling Aerith's excitement. As soon as she saw the two boys asleep on the couch, she put a hand over her mouth to contain her squeal, and began jumping up and down like a little girl. Thanks to the carpet, it didn't make much sound, so the occupants of the couch stayed fast asleep, blissfully unaware of their growing audience.

That is, until Yuffie came down.

She had been woken up be the sound of Aerith opening the bedroom door, and after hearing some unintelligible whispering, had finally managed to sit up in bed, only to find the room completely empty. She rubbed her eyes to make sure.

Yep. Still empty.

And so, she crawled out from her warm cocoon, stretched, yawned, and basically took her time to leaving the room. Figuring that her bunkmates wouldn't have business in the keybladers' room, she shuffled her way down the stairs to the living room, only to find Kairi jumping up and down like a pogo stick, hands clamped over her mouth, and Aerith smiling like she'd just seen a group of moogles ice-skating. In little suits. Wearing adorable makeup. And singing. (Aerith was a bit odd…)

Curious as to what was causing such reactions, she joined the line of girls looking at the couch.

_Okay, so it's Riku. Whoopie. Yeah, he's cute when he sleeps but it's not tha…_

Yuffie took a moment to contemplate the yellow spikes behind his head. Did he get a chocobo hat or something? She moved past the other girls to get a better angle, and then…

"HOLY SHIVA! IT'S CLOUD!… AND RIKU!… OMIGOD THEY'RE SLEEPING! TOGETHER!"

Obviously Yuffie didn't possess anywhere near Kairi's ability to control herself. Not to mention that her voice was higher on the register than anyone would have thought possible, and that a wordless squeal came in-between every word.

Cloud and Riku, of course, were startled awake by the first "HOLY…" Riku's eyes snapped open, and Cloud sat up so quickly that he accidentally knocked Riku off of the couch. From these positions, Cloud could see that Yuffie was the one screaming, and grimaced as he tried to block out the sound by plugging his ears and diving back under the blankets.

Riku, whose range of vision was currently limited to the carpet and a pair of shoes, assumed that some type of sadistic town siren was going off, and huddled into a ball with his hands over his ears, trying to ignore the sound. It was barely intelligible, anyway.

By the time Yuffie got to "SLEEPING!," Leon, Sora, and even Merlin had woken up, and were stumbling into the room, trying to rub the sleep from their eyes and cover their ears at the same time. They were followed by Cid, who was wearing earplugs while stringing together profanities under his breath. Donald and Goofy were still sleeping soundly on the gummi ship, unaware to the chaos inside the house.

Leon, who was almost used to this sort of thing, shuffled up to Yuffie and clamped his hand over her mouth, using his other arm to pin her flailing limbs to her sides and try to hold her back.

"Wha's goin' on?" mumbled Sora.

Now that Kairi no longer had reason to hold back, she squealed (at a rather reasonable tone), look! Look!

Sora made his way over to Kairi, and stared at the scene before him. As Cloud was still under the blankets, all he could see was Riku lying on the ground, curled up on his side, recovering from the recent trauma.

"Riku, why'd you sleep down here tonight?" Sora asked. "D'I kick you in my sleep? M'sorry…"

Cloud chose this moment to emerge from under the blankets, inciting disbelieving stares from the only four still out of the loop. Leon even lost his grip on Yuffie for a second, but managed to recapture her before she could continue in her attempt to deafen them.

After a moment of shocked silence, Cid burst out in laughter, trying to light a cigarette, but laughing too hard to even keep his lighter steady.

Merlin merely acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and so went to the kitchen to get a blueberry bagel.

Sora, however, was still completely nonplussed, and stood there, head cocked, arms akimbo, with a look of monumental confusion on his face.

"Wait. Riku, did you know Cloud was on the couch, too?"

Riku just stared up at him from the floor, where he had pulled himself up to a seated position. Sora had gotten that stare enough times to know that it was Riku's classic "are you stupid?" stare (others include 'back off,' 'you're so childish,' and 'I'll give you a three-second head start before I chase after you and beat you with this wooden sword or anything else remotely weapon-like in the vicinity').

This, of course, confused Sora even more, because now he knew he was being stupid, but couldn't figure out how.

"Did you guys come down for a midnight snack or something and then start telling ghost stories and get too afraid to go back to bed so you just sat up on the couch all night?"

There was that stare again.

Okay. Second try.

"Did you have some juicy gossip that you couldn't share with the rest of us, so you came down here in the middle of the night, whisper under a tent of blankets until the wee hours of the morning, and then were too tired and cold to walk back to bed?"

Sora was beginning to think he should prepare for that three-second head-start.

Third time's the charm, right?

"Okay… so could you both not sleep, so you came to the kitchen, ran into each other, had a nice long chat and then confessed your romantic feelings to each other and ended up kissing, and then moved over to the couch and almost had sex but you didn't because Cloud was afraid of moving too fast?"

Everyone stared at Sora. He was afraid he had gotten it wrong again, and was preparing to run, but Riku was now sporting a stare that Sora didn't think he'd ever seen before. If he had to guess, he would say that it was somewhere between awe and extreme awkwardness. Which was weird, because Riku was always super collected.

What was even weirder was that everyone else was wearing the same stare, except that they were surprised instead of awkward. The awe was still there. Did they plan this or something?

Merlin, who had returned from the kitchen and was halfway through a bite of bagel, had heard the statement and ensuing silence, and so he swallowed the rest of that bite of bagel and said, "Well, my boy. That _was_ rather specific. But I suppose everyone has their lucky guesses, and if I might be so bold, I do believe that you've hit the nail on the head, as it were."

Considering the mystery solved, Merlin returned to the kitchen to put more cream cheese on what he decided was a far too dry bagel.

Cloud was the first to regain his voice.

"Umm… Sora? What the hell? Aerith's supposed to be the one with psychic powers."

He turned to Aerith.

"Did _you_ tell him that? Did you somehow mysteriously see what happened last night or something? How the hell did he find out?"

"Well, first," Aerith responded (Cloud's tirade had snapped her out of her shock), "I'm not psychic, I just have a very strong sense of intuition. Second, I haven't told Sora anything regarding the two of you. Sora probably noticed the way you were acting around each other, and everyone in this house knew you were homosexual, so someone probably told Sora and he put two and two together. The rest was probably an educated guess based on what he knows about Riku and the fact that you were found sleeping with together on the couch.

By this point, Leon had released Yuffie, who ran straight up and patted Sora on the back for his obvious intelligence while Kairi just stood next to him and smiled behind her hand.

Riku was still feeling terribly uncomfortable with the fact that so many people had learned about his sexuality and his new relationship (it was a relationship, right?) all at the same time, and were currently standing around them as if they were on display. Wanting to hide, he snuck back up onto the couch, slid his legs under the blanket and hid his face in Cloud's neck. Cloud chuckled softly, sending light vibrations through Riku's body, which relaxed him a bit. Sensing Riku's discomfort, Cloud put his arms around the boy and pulled him onto his lap.

"Everything's fine, babe," he murmured. "I know you feel exposed right now, but within a few days, everything will return to normal, and no one will even think about it anymore. We'll just be us. No one here is going to treat us any differently. I promise."

"I know that's how it is with Sora and Kairi, but they're straight. Everyone else in this house is heterosexual. Don't you think it'll be even a little bit awkward? I mean, seeing two guys together isn't really common around here, and it'll just make people uncomfortable."

"Okay, let me ask you something. When you're around Sora and Kairi, and they're cuddling, not even kissing, just being all couple-y, does that make you uncomfortable?"

"Yeah. It makes everything awkward."

"It'll be the same way with us. Everyone will feel awkward if we do that couples stuff around them, but it isn't because we're both male. It's just because that kind of thing always makes people uncomfortable."

"I'm just so worried that I'll do something wrong. I don't want to screw this up."

Cloud cupped Riku's chin and lifted his gaze to meet his own.

"Listen to me, Riku. I don't care what happens, okay? There's nothing you can do that will make me stop feeling the way I do about you. Even if you think you're screwing up, you aren't. Because no matter what happens, no matter what anyone thinks, I'll be right there with you. So you don't need to worry, okay?"

Riku gave Cloud a soft smile.

"Okay."

And Cloud knew that he would do anything just to see that smile again. Cloud leaned forward and planted a kiss on Riku's lips, which the boy gently returned, lacing his hands through Cloud's hair. There was no desperation in this kiss, nor wild passion, only simple, pure affection.

The moment was perfect.

Until Yuffie.

"Awwwwwww! (squeal!) You two are so adorable together! (squeal!) Seriously, this is _so cute_! (squeal!) Can you kiss again? _PLEEEEAASE?"_

Sora came up and whispered something desperately into Yuffie's ear.

"What?" she said. "Why?"

"Just trust me, please!"

A quiet voice came from the couch.

"Your three seconds are up. Better run fast."

At which point Yuffie screamed "OH SHIT!" and ran out the front door, followed closely by Riku, who stopped only to grab a wooden mallet from Cid's toolbox.

"Umm… Sora?"

"Yeah, Cloud?"

A loud bang was heard outside, followed by screaming, yelling, and overall chaos.

"Remind me to never get Riku angry."

End.


End file.
